CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LISA was still warm from the bath. How could he have forgotten how wonderful she felt in his arms when the need rose in them both like a white-hot flame?
‘It was good, wasn’t it?’ she whispered when he finally stopped kissing her.
‘Is good,’ Tino corrected, still holding her, staring into her eyes. ‘Better than good.’
How could she hold back her feelings when she didn’t want to? How could she hold firm when her body, her heart, her mind, her soul called out to him, and when she only felt complete when she was with him? ‘I love you, Tino.’
‘Are you asking me, or telling me?’
They both laughed, and she buried her face against his chest. ‘Do I still sound so uncertain?’ She watched his lips tug up in a half-smile, ‘I… love… you.’
He swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom to seal the pledge they had made to each other. Lowering her down onto the bed, he dropped the towel he had been wearing round his waist, and slipped beneath the covers, drawing her into his arms. Stroking her hair, he dropped kisses on her eyes, on her cheek, on her brow…
‘This is good,’ he said tenderly. ‘The best thing in the world is being in bed with you.’
‘It’s so much softer than a table,’ she teased him. ‘The worktable in a florist’s shop,’ she reminded him, ‘the boardroom table.’
‘Yours, or mine?’
‘Both, if I have my way.’
‘Then it’s to be hoped you do—I ‘m keen to make sure our lovemaking never becomes predictable.’
‘No chance of that—’ Lisa gasped as Tino moved down the bed, kissing every inch of her on the way. He flung back the covers so that the subdued light from the bedside lamp played across her naked body, turning it a deeper shade of peach.
‘You’re so beautiful,’ he murmured, tracing the contours of her breasts and belly with the lightest touch to bring her pleasure. ‘I want to taste you.’
Throwing her head back on the soft bank of pillows, Lisa moaned softly as he moved between her thighs, pressing her legs back with his warm palms until she was completely open for him, completely ready… She could refuse him nothing… not even her heart.
His dark hair was so glossy in the lamplight, so silky to her touch as she laced her fingers through the thick waves to urge him on… His tongue was every bit as skilful as his fingers, and there was no part of her he did not understand, or know how to play for the greatest pleasure. But as her excitement grew to fever pitch he drew back, smiling down at her, his eyes dark with passion, and his smile wolfish in the half-light.
‘Don’t keep me waiting—’
‘Or?’ he demanded.
‘If you’re naughty, I shall have to punish you.’
Arousal hit them at the same moment, and as their eyes locked Tino knew they were thinking the same thing. They had both suffered the consequences of violence, but they had worked through their fears together, and it had brought them closer than either of them had anticipated. They could push the boundaries because they loved each other, and because they could trust each other completely, and because, at last, they both knew without any doubt at all that they were safe.
‘Better?’ he asked Lisa later when she lay quiet in his arms.
‘Can’t speak… no strength.’ Her body was floating on another dimension. She couldn’t have called it back even had she wanted to.
‘All the shadows gone?’
‘Shadows?’
‘We both have them,’ Tino told her, shifting his head on the pillows to meet her gaze. ‘You can’t hide from someone who has spent his whole life blanking out the past—’
‘That works both ways, Tino.’
‘I know about the commune,’ he said. ‘I know about all the terrible things you saw while you were living there. I understand your reasons for running away, and for going back to live with your father. You were right to do that, Lisa. And in the end your mother did her best for you. No child should have been exposed to the dangers you were exposed to, and I believe she helped you to get out of there just in time.’
‘Who told you all this?’
‘Does it matter?’
It had to be Mike, Lisa realised. She hadn’t confided the truth about her mother’s extreme lifestyle to another living soul.
‘Don’t be angry with Mike,’ Tino said as he read her mind. ‘He only has your best interests at heart.’
‘I’m not angry. It’s just that I never talk about the past in case anyone thinks I’m looking for sympathy, or help. I know that no one can help me. I can only help myself.’
‘If you thought of it as understanding, rather than sympathy, you might find other people out there just like you. You can share the road back with someone else, Lisa, someone who is also trying to break free from the past.’
‘With you, Tino?’
‘Why not? Just because your mother’s life was chaotic doesn’t mean you have to order your own life with such an unforgiving hand.’
‘I’m getting better.’ She viewed their sated forms with a wry glance.
‘You are better, because you know you can trust me, and you know that violence will never have any part to play in our relationship. Why shouldn’t lovemaking be fun? Who’s to say what’s right or wrong between consenting adults, as long as no one else is hurt by their actions? What happens between us in the bedroom stays between us. And if you don’t like something, you only have to tell me.’
‘I like everything,’ Lisa assured him, snuggling close, already feeling her body starting to yearn for his attention.
‘Not yet,’ Tino whispered, soothing her with long strokes down her back. ‘First we talk.’
‘First you talk.’ Lisa raised herself on one arm to stare at him. ‘You know so much about me, and I need to understand your nightmares. Tell me about the past, Tino.’
‘I don’t want to burden you.’
Putting one finger over his lips, she shook her head, silently encouraging him, prepared to wait for however long it took.
‘Stella Panayotakis took care of me when I was a boy,’ he said at last.
‘Didn’t your mother take care of you?’
‘I never knew my mother—she didn’t want anything to do with me.’
‘Tino, I’m so sorry… I had no idea.’
‘No one does. That’s the joke. Tino Zagorakis, the Greek tycoon, doesn’t even know if he is a Greek.’
‘But your name?’
‘I took it from the van that came to the orphanage each week..‘‘Zagorakis Cleaning Services’’. What a joke, eh?’
‘The orphanage? Oh, Tino.’ This was no joke, and Lisa fell silent the moment he started speaking again.
‘Everything inside the orphanage was grey until the day that Stella Panayotakis came to work there. Stella taught me that life could be bigger than my life in the orphanage. She said my life could be exciting. She told me about the world outside the orphanage—a world that was raw, and vivid, and only waiting for me to take my part in it. She put dreams into my head, and promised they would all come true if only I believed… It was hard, Lisa, really hard and Stella Panayotakis made me believe.’
‘And when you were successful you gave her an apartment building.’
‘She told you that?’
‘Stella is your greatest fan.’
‘And now, I have more plans, bigger plans.’
Tino’s enthusiasm was infectious. ‘What are your plans, Tino? Please tell me about them.’
‘Well… I am going to have more places like Stellamaris.’
‘More islands?’ Lisa drew up in amazement.
‘I’m sorry, pethi mou, you do not know.’
‘I don’t know what?’
‘When I bought Stellamaris, I named it for Stella, and then I used it as my base.’
‘Your base? You mean for your business?’
‘For my other business.’
‘Stop talking in riddles,’ Lis
a warned, dropping a kiss on his chest.
‘I bring young people to Stellamaris, and some older people too… to find themselves. The island is a sanctuary, a place to start again, and for some, a place to start. Many of the people on Stellamaris began their lives in orphanages. I make sure there is training there for everyone, and that Stella visits frequently. Stella was my inspiration, and now she is theirs.’
‘Now I understand why you’re so close to Arianna.’
‘Stella was a single mother, and it was very hard for her back then. Don’t look so impressed, Lisa. I don’t deserve any praise. I did nothing special… it was all Stella’s doing. All I have ever done is give people the tools to help themselves. Their achievements are all their own.’
‘And now?’ Lisa looked at him intently. ‘Tell me about your new plans?’
‘They’re not so much new, as an extension of my existing scheme. I have accumulated massive wealth, and now I want to use that money to help others as Stella helped me. I want to extend my programme right across Greece to begin with.’
‘Nothing too ambitious, then,’ Lisa teased him gently.
‘Very ambitious,’ Tino admitted, ‘and because of that I will need someone at my side. I can’t even start the work I want to do until I find that one special person—someone who shares my aims, my desires, my dreams… someone who knows what it feels like to be on the outside looking in. Can you be that person, Lisa?’
‘Are you offering me a job?’
Tino tilted his head as he pretended to consider this. ‘Can you think of anyone better qualified to take on this task than a successful businesswoman who has accepted that she can delegate some of her duties to other members of her team at Bond Steel, a woman who has suddenly discovered she has a heart, a woman who knows what it is to be an outcast, a woman of principle, a woman who is every bit as driven as I am, a woman who has recently declared she is looking for radical change in her life?’
Closing her eyes, Lisa took time over framing her answer. ‘All this—’ she touched his face gently in wonder ‘—and a new job in just one working week.’
‘Exactly as we planned,’ Tino pointed out. ‘We make a great team.’
‘And if I was looking for something more?’
‘Something more?’
‘More than just a job, more than simply joining your organisation to help you with this new project?’ She tensed as Tino stretched beyond her to reach for his clothes. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Looking for something…’
Seeing the velvet case, Lisa exclaimed with concern. ‘You were supposed to take those back.’
‘Surely you didn’t expect me to take them back to the shop after you’d worn them, did you?’
Remembering where she’d worn them, Lisa blushed. ‘Perhaps not.’
‘Oh, look, here’s another one.’ Falling back onto the pillows, Tino dragged her down with him. Now there were two velvet boxes. ‘Which one? You choose.’
‘You shouldn’t be buying me presents.’
‘Buying gifts for you is one impulse I will never allow you to control,’ he informed her. ‘Now, which one do you choose?’
‘They say all the best things come in small packages.’
‘Not always.’
‘But maybe you are right this time,’ Tino conceded. ‘Why don’t you open the small box and find out?’
Taking it from him, Lisa pressed the small gilt catch and gasped as the lid flew open. The emerald ring was a perfect match to the fabulous earrings. ‘What’s this? A down payment on my first month’s wages?’
‘You wish.’
‘So, what am I to think?’ she demanded wryly.
Taking her left hand, he tested the ring for size on her marriage finger. ‘Thank goodness, it fits perfectly. Oh, and there’s one more thing.’
‘Yes?’ Lisa could hardly tear her gaze away from the incredible jewel on her finger.
‘When we’re in bed,’ Tino continued sternly, ‘there’ll be no more talk of wages and business. In our private life there will be just you, me, and our love under discussion.’
‘Our love…’
‘We can hardly be married without it.’
‘Married?’
‘Is this going to be another one of your business con
tracts?’ he teased.
‘Not just another contract,’ Lisa argued firmly. ‘The most important contract of all.’
‘So, will you shake on the deal?’ He started to smile.
‘I’ll certainly show some reaction,’ she promised huskily when he drew her close to kiss her again.
EPILOGUE
‘NO, NO, no…’ Sprawled on the floor with her legs stuck out in front of her, Lisa waggled her finger.
‘That won’t work… You have to do it like this,’ Tino informed her, sweeping their son onto his shoulders.
Now, instead of screaming with frustration, the determined two-year-old was screaming with laughter as Tino galloped with him around the room.
‘Come on, let’s gather up the pieces of your jigsaw,’ Lisa suggested to the fairy princess at her side. Elena took her puzzles seriously, and hadn’t welcomed her brother’s interference, but the fact that she had insisted on wearing a tinsel headband and a pair of wings while she worked made Lisa think that Elena would grow up to have just the right mix of intellect and playfulness.
And who would have imagined that Tino would turn into such a wonderful family man? Lisa mused, pausing to watch him for a moment… or that she would have a wardrobe full of musty suits, and paint-spattered jeans?
And wasn’t this better? Wasn’t this wonderful? And wasn’t the sight of their newest taverna going up to provide training for a whole new group of youngsters the most thrilling deal either of them had ever pulled off?
‘You’re looking very thoughtful,’ Tino observed, hunkering down beside her. It took some skill to keep Lucas balanced on his shoulders when the toddler was intent on hanging upside down.
‘I’m just blessing the fact that our paths crossed at all,’ Lisa admitted wryly. ‘That was some quirk of fate.’
‘Quirk of fate?’ Tino stared at her. ‘Our meeting was no accident, Lisa…’
‘What do you mean?’
Lowering his son to the ground as Elena held out her hand to Lucas to take him out to play, Tino explained, ‘I read about you, then I saw your photograph… and the rest is history.’
‘I suppose you were determined to bring me to heel? You were,’ she accused him fondly. ‘I can see it written all over your face…’
‘Maybe,’ Tino confessed, slanting her a smile.
That was the point… the whole point. They were so similar they could read each other like a book. But it had been more than the challenge that had brought him to the offices of Bond Steel that day… When he had first heard Lisa’s story, something deep inside him had cried out to meet her. With a history such as they shared you needed more than one lifetime to try and explain yourself. With Lisa, he never had to try; she just knew.
He had always wondered, feared, that the past might have left some indelible scar on him, but, although from the earliest days Lisa had tested his control to the limits and beyond, she had helped him prove that he had left the past behind, and that none of the violence had travelled with him.
He only felt complete when she was with him, and now they had children too… a family, the one thing he had always dreamed about when he was a child in the orphanage. And even now, gazing at Lisa, and Elena, and Lucas, he could hardly believe the joy they gave him. The love of a woman was a wonderful thing, but the love of a family was the greatest gift of all.
THE RICH MAN’S VIRGIN
by
Lindsay Armstrong
Lindsay Armstrong was born in South Africa but now lives in Australia with her New Zealand-born husband and their five children. They have lived in nearly every state of Australia and have tried their hand at some unusual – for them – occupations, such as farm
ing and horse-training – all grist to the mill for a writer! Lindsay started writing romances when their youngest child began school and she was left feeling at a loose end. She is still doing it and loving it.
PROLOGUE
MAGGIE TRENT and Jack McKinnon conducted rather unreal conversations at times.
Why this should be so had something to do with the unreal nature of their relationship, Maggie felt. Nothing ever went according to plan in their lives. Their first meeting had been sheer coincidence, their second meeting sheer disaster, their third meeting should have had labels stuck all over it shouting, ‘Spoilt, little rich girl determined to get her own way’—according, at first anyway, to Jack.
They’d parted after that extended meeting, not well, and determined never wittingly to come together again.
Yet just under a year later Maggie began one of her unreal conversations with Jack McKinnon on the subject of their two-month-old son who had started out life known as Trent/McKinnon—it had been written on his wrist band and on the label on his cot. They’d dispensed with the stroke after a week but stuck with the Trent McKinnon.
The gist of their conversation was this.
‘This is a very proper baby,’ Maggie said seriously one evening.
‘I never thought he was a porcelain doll.’
‘No. I mean, he’s very well organized. He does everything by the book.’
Jack frowned. ‘He’s only eight weeks old. How can you say that?’
Maggie was attractively dressed in slim white trousers and a floral seersucker jacket trimmed with green. Her dark gold hair was tied back with a green scrunchie; her green eyes were clear and she was sitting beside a cot.
The Millionaire's Virgin (Mills & Boon By Request) Page 17